TACT AND PERSONALITY.

Sun (Christchurch), Volume I, Issue 247, 21 November 1914, Page 7

TACT AND PERSONALITY.

Those who have much to do with the stage or the concert platform, or business generally, will tell you that personality is the thing that makes for success, and those who have it not will never make headway, writes Queen Bee in the "Australasian. " It is a very dominant note in all social life, and the woman who is endowed with it has a great advantage over her sisters. And with personality, generally speaking, tact walks hand in hand. There are many amongst our friends whom we know to have worthy, kindly natures; but they have not the power of expressing them, and so they remain colourless beings, because the owners do not know how to project them to the best advantage. 'Personality, roughly speaking, is human nature, and it is the power of expressing its attributes that is so valuable. The tactful woman, in every walk of ■life, is always a consoler. -She understands our troubles, almost before we tell her about them, and her personality is as refreshing as a cool draught of air on a close day. She can sinoothen out troubles that' seem hopelessly entangled; she can comfort the despairing, and give heart

again to those who have lost it. She understands the value of cheeriness, and the cheerful word in dye season; she knows how to comfort the troubled mind and the over-wrought soul, and she does it seemingly without the slightest effort on her part. But it is the personality behind the tact that enables the latter to s do its work so well and so effectively. These two gifts are not confined to grown-up persons. Some school-children are "endowed with them, and by their means thoy hold a kind of domination over their little friends, and are looked up to for guidance and leadership. Thus it will be seen that tact and personality are inborn, and cannot be cultivated. The genius for saying pleasant things and doing graceful ones at the right moment, is an asset of our frail human nature that cannot be estimated at anything like its intrinsic value. Those to whom the power to do these things has not been vouchsafed cannot be blamed any more than they can be blamed for not being painters or vocalist!?. And it is highly probable that if they attempted to acquire tact and personality, they would fail ignominiously. Human nature is a very hard thing, indeed, to change, radically and thoroughly. For a time it may be possible to vary it a little, but it is certain to return to its original habit. A boorish woman will remain so to the end of her life, and so will a bad-tempered one. We might almost expect a miracle with the leopard and the Ethiopian, as for people to remodel their dispositions. They might seem to do so, but when the time of trial came, we should find them the same as ever,*

To have one tactful person in % household is always a blessing, and is as needful as sunlight and air. It would be a dreadful home wherein the whole of the inmates were perfectly tactless—almost unthinkable: It is ttfe highest compliment that we can pay to man or woman to say that he or she has such a charming, or interesting, or magnetic personality, and is so tactful with it all. In times of storm and stress the influence of this kind of man or woman is most soothing and reassuring. Voice, manner, smile, and even choice of words are at once magnetic, in a way, and comforting. In America tkere is a branch of woman's work called '' Home Headers.'' They will come and read, when desired, for an hour or two in

the afternoon, and many niake a very fair income at this pleasant way of earning a modest living. Here, again, the value of personality is of great account, as it goes a long way towards making the matter read interesting and entertaining. A reader who puts no..'soul into her work will very soon become wearisome, and either bore the persons read to or send them to sleep. ;